The 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report, published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), based in the United States, indicates that terrorism incidents in Nigeria fell by 27% in 2019.
This represents the lowest level of terrorism in Nigeria since 2011, with terrorism deaths in Nigeria reduced to 1,245 last year – a 39.1% dip from the 2,043 deaths recorded in 2018.
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Despite the overall decline in terrorism in Nigeria last year, the country is still ranked as the third most impacted country in the world by terrorism, a position it has maintained for five consecutive years since 2015.
According to the latest annual GTI report, Afghanistan and Iraq are respectively the first and second most affected countries by terrorism.
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Highlights of the report
- The decline in both terrorism incidents and deaths in Nigeria is attributed to a significant reduction in violence by armed Fulani herdsmen.
- The armed herdsmen are being held accountable for majority of terror-related deaths in 2018, with the latest GTI report showing a 72% decline in fatalities attributed to the herdsmen last year.
- Terror-related deaths and incidents attributed to Boko Haram in Nigeria increased by 25% and 30% respectively from the prior year.
- Over the past year, Boko Haram increased attacks on military targets, with deaths rising from 26 in 2018 to 148 in 2019.
- Globally, deaths from terrorism fell in 2019 to 13,826. This represents a 15% dip from the previous year and the fifth consecutive year of decline since peaking in 2014.
- Conflict remains the primary driver of terrorism, with over 96% of deaths from terrorism in 2019 occurring in countries that are already in conflict.
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What you should know
- GTI report is published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) based in the United States.
- The GTI report, now in its eighth year, ranks 135 countries according to how they are impacted by terrorism. The indicators used by the GTI include the number of terrorist incidents, fatalities, injuries and property damage.
- Boko Haram, the deadliest terrorist group in Nigeria ranks second in the world, behind the Taliban in Afghanistan.
- There are 63 countries in 2019 that recorded at least one death from a terrorist attack and 17 countries that recorded over 100 deaths from terrorism. However, only Afghanistan and Nigeria recorded over 1,000 deaths and both countries had significant reductions in the number of people killed in 2019.
- Globally, the report estimates the economic impact of violence, including military, homicide, incarceration and terrorism to be $14.5 trillion in 2019. This is the equivalent of 10.6% of global GDP. The global economic impact of terrorism alone was estimated to be $26.4 billion last year.
- There are emerging new threats of politically-induced terrorism in North America, Western Europe, and Oceania, though with minimal fatalities.
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